Bourne Co. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al

Filing 34

DECLARATION of Paul M. Fakler in Support re: 28 MOTION for Summary Judgment.. Document filed by Bourne Co.. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit Exhibits E-G, # 6 Exhibit Exhibit H, # 7 Exhibit Exhibit I, # 8 Exhibit Exhibits J-K, # 9 Exhibit Exhibits L-M, # 10 Exhibit Exhibits N-O)(Fakler, Paul)

EXHIBIT J

Page 1
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

BOUR CO., )

Plaintiff, )
) )

)

vs. ) No. 07 CIV. 8580 (DAB)
TWNTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM )
CORPORATION, FOX BROADCASTING ) COMPANY, TWNTIETH CENTURY FOX )

TELEVISION, INC., TWNTIETH )
CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMNT, )

INC., FUZZY DOOR PRODUCTIONS, )
INC., THE CARTOON NETWORK, INC.,)

SETH MAC FAR, WALTER MUPHY,)
)

Defendants.

) )

RULE 30 (B) (6) DEPOSITION OF FOX EMLOYEE

DAVID ZUCKERM TAKN ON THURSDAY, MACH 13, 2008

Reported by:
Daryl Baucum, RPR, CRR, CBC, CSR No. 10356

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Page 8

1 relating to this litigation?
2
3

A.
Q.

No.
Other than any particular discussions that you

4 had with your lawyers, what have you done in the past

5 week to prepare for this deposition?
6

A.

I rewatched the episode "When You Wish Upon a

7 Weinstein. "
8

Q.

Did you do anything else?
No.
Have you talked to Seth MacFarlane?

9

A.
Q.

10 11 12 13
14

A.
Q.

No.
Have you reviewed any deposition transcripts?

A.
Q.

No.
What personal involvement did you have with the

15 story development for the Weinstein episode?
16

A.

The only specific recollection I have about the

17 Weinstein episode was the third act was not working, and
18 I think it was my idea to do the whole quickie Bah

19 Mitzvah element of the third act.
20
Q.
So that's the only element of the show that you

21 recall personally being involved in the writing of?
22

A.

Well, as execu ti ve producer, I was involved in
So I don't know if you

23

every aspect of every episode.

24 are asking what my specific contributions are or in

25 general what my duties are.
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P ige 9

1

Q.

Good. Thanks.

2 I am asking what your specific -- what you
3 specifically did with respect to that specific episode.
4

MR. ZAVIN: Objection; just because I think

5 that is still amiguous.

6 BY MR. FAKER:
7 Q. You can answer it if you understand it.
8 A. I would just say that as executive producer on
9 a show, I was involved in story development, giving

10 notes on the outline once the story outline came in and

11 rewri ting the script as it came in.

12 I don't rememer - - you know, did I
13 specifically write this line or that line, I don't have 14 any recollection -- I don't rememer.
15
Q.
Do you remember giving -- doing all of those

16 things, giving comments and such, with respect to this

17 particular episode?
18

A.
Q.

Yes, as I did on every episode.

19

Is there a process for submitting the script

20 for approval to the Standards and Practices Department

21 at Fox?
22

A.

You are speaking in general or specifically on

23 this episode?
24
Q.
First, in general.

25

A.

We wrote the script; we rewrote to our

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ge 24

1 possible answering your questions. What I thought you
2 were asking for was specifics that I didn't have.

3 BY MR. FAKER:
4

Q.

And you believe that I wasn't asking you for

5 what the content of those discussions were?
6 7

A.
Q.

I answered your ques tion .

Okay. The discussions that you had with --

8 these discussions about Walt Disney and his alleged
9 antisemitism that you just discussed, when were those

10 discussions?
11
When did they take place in the process of

12 producing the show?
13

A.

After the script was written, after the table

14 read -- I don't recall if it was before the episode was

15 recorded or not, but certainly before the episode was in
16

animatic, certainly.

It would have to be because, you

17 know, we wouldn't have been able to record the lyrics
18 until we had resolved these issues.

19 So it would have to be after the table read
20

bef ore the record

before the record of the song. We

21 may have recorded the dialogue.
22
Q.
And with respect to the juxtaposition of "When

23 You Wish Upon A Star," the theme of that Disney song
2 4 wi th Peter's wish, which is more vulgar, was that

25 juxtaposition meant to ridicule the Disney song or
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'age 25

1 Peter's beliefs?

MR. ZAVIN: Objection.
3 BY MR. FAKER:
4

Q.

Can you answer?

5

MR. ZAVIN: There is no evidence it was meant

6 to ridicule either.
7 8

MR. FAKER: Please, don't coach the witness.
MR. ZAVIN: You have asked a question which is

9 the classic trick question. You have assumed it was

10 meant to ridicule one or the other.
11

MR. FAKER: You made a speaking objection.

12 It's noted for the record.
13
14

MR. ZAVIN: Right.

MR. FAKER: There is an avenue for us to
THE WITNESS: I mean I don't think we were

15 resolve that.
16

1 7 trying to ridicule anybody.

18 BY MR. FAKER:
19

Q.

You don't think you were trying to ridicule

20 Peter's beliefs?
21 22 23

A.
Q.

Ridicule. No.
And you weren't trying to ridicule -I think we were just pointing out that they

A.

24 were ignorant. There is plenty of times when we did
25 ridicule Peter in the episode and in many episodes, but

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Page 26

1 I think it was just supposed to be he is a dum guy.

2 The song was an illustration of how dum he is.
3

Q.

Was the song an illustration -- any kind of

4 negative comment on the original Disney song?
5
6

MR. ZAVIN: Objection.
THE WITNESS: I mean I don't understand the

7 word "negative." It was a comment on the Disney song.

8 BY MR. FAKER:
9

Q.

Was it -- okay. You don't understand

10 "negative"-11

A.

Well, I don't think the word "negative"

12 applies, I think I should say.
13
14

Q.

Okay.

A.

Negative.
MR. FAKER: Tha t 's all I have.
MR. ZAVIN: We're done.
THE WITNSS: Okay. Thanks.

15

16
17 18

MR. FAKER: Thanks a lot.
MR. ZAVIN: Thank you.
(The deposition was concluded at

19

20
21 22

10:39 a.m.)

23
24

25

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EXHIBIT K